In this lesson, students will examine the difference between history and memory by debating the legacy of Benedict Arnold. Using video clips of an actor playing Arnold, students are invited to debate his actions and determine how history should remember him.

In this lesson, students will examine the difference between history and memory by debating the legacy of John Brown. Using video clips of an actor playing Brown, students are invited to debate his actions and determine how history should remember him. The video segments are also avai

This object-based learning activity revolves around an 1898 Standard Voting Machine, the fight against voting fraud and the extension of voting rights in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Students will learn how voting technology was used to democratize the voting process in the

In this activity, children pretend to be an American during 1963 and decide whether or not to join the March on Washington. Children base their choice on information gathered through guided observation of a handbill from the march. Included in an OurStory module from Smithsonian's National Museum

What can we learn by studying a buffalo hide painting? In this activity, students will learn about the culture of the Plains Indians by determining the meaning of stories told on a buffalo hide painting and compare their interpretations to that of a Smithsonian historian. This activity is meant t

In this interactive website, students explore the role buffaloes played in the lives of Native Americans of the northern Plains. The website includes: online interactives, printable activities and a map of the Plain Indians, information about the art of buffalo hide paintings, a teacher's guide a

Three short videos provide an overview of American transportation history in three different eras: 1800-1900, 1900-1950, and 1950-2000. These videos are included in the online exhibition entitled America on the Move, which focuses on transportation in US history.

Three short videos provide an overview of the history of America's transportation infrastructure in three eras: 1800-1900, 1900-1950, and 1950-2000. These videos are included in the online exhibition entitled America on the Move, which focuses on transportation in US history.

Three short videos provide an overview of transportation technology in three eras: 1800-1900, 1900-1950, and 1950-2000. These videos are included in the online exhibition entitled America on the Move, which focuses on transportation in US history.

Meet Steven Turner, curator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, as he discusses the Smithsonian's scientific instrument collection. This video focuses the science behind and uses for tuning forks, including demonstrations of tuning forks on resonators, the Grand Tonometer, a

Japanese Americans reflect on their years spent in internment camps as children or young adults. They discuss the process of being forced from their homes, and their ability to make the prisons more livable despite oppressive conditions.